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Safety Quarterly Update 2017

Quarter 4, 2017

In August, CANSO led an Air Traffic System Incident Investigator Workshop in Lagos, Nigeria, in cooperation with the United States Department of Transportation ‘Safe Skies for Africa’ and the Federal Aviation Administration, and hosted by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency. The workshop provided participants with knowledge of best practices in air traffic services (ATS) incident investigation and focused on incident reporting in a Just Culture. CANSO’s Just Culture Guidelines were shared with participants, who learned how to establish and sustain an environment conducive to reporting of incidents.

In September, CANSO held a Human Performance Safety Workshop in Marrakech, Morocco, hosted by the Moroccan Airports Authority (ONDA). Led by the Head of Human Factors for NATS and the CANSO Safety Programme Manager, the workshop identified what good human performance looks like in air traffic management, how it can be assessed and how it can be improved. At a time when new technology, equipment and procedures are being introduced, maximising the performance of the human element in the system has never been so important.

Five organisations submitted nominations for the CANSO Global Safety Achievement Award 2017. This Award is given to a company or team that has made a significant safety contribution which has reduced aviation risk in the previous year. I was impressed with the high calibre of this year’s submissions, which comprise innovative and forward-thinking efforts to improve safety and safety culture. The winner of the Award will be announced at the CANSO Global ATM Safety Conference 2017, in Sydney, Australia, 6-10 November. If you have not yet registered for the conference, I encourage you to do so. We have an exciting programme planned for this year. Topics of discussion will include new entrants into the industry, digital/remote towers, the safety challenges of new technologies, and global safety initiatives.

In October, the full Human Performance Management Taskforce met in Oslo, Norway, to review and solicit feedback on work developed so far on the Standard of Excellence in Human Performance Management, including the elements, descriptions, questions and guidance material. The Taskforce will present its progress at the CANSO Global ATM Safety Conference 2017. The Standard is on track for completion by the CANSO Global ATM Safety Conference 2018.

The Standard of Excellence in Air Navigation Services – Safety (SEANS-Safety) initiative is making good progress. Safety assessments were held with Kazaeronavigatsia in July and with DC-ANSP in September. An assessment with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines will take place in November and an SMS training is planned for Oman in December.

At the CANSO Africa Conference 2017 in September, an informative panel discussion “From Peer Assessments to SEANS-Safety Assessment’’, generated excellent discussion on the development of safety management systems (SMS) in the region. There will be a workshop on SEANS-Safety processes at the CANSO Latin America and Caribbean Conference 2017 in December.

Quarter 3, 2017

In May, CANSO held a joint safety and operations workshop on Managing Change and Human Factors at the CANSO Asia Pacific Conference 2017 in Hanoi, Vietnam. CANSO also conducted training for assistant assessors of SEANS-Safety (the Standard of Excellence in Air Navigation Services – Safety).

CANSO has subsequently completed three SEANS-Safety assessments at VATM, EANS and Kazaeronavigatsia. The EANS assessment was conducted jointly with EUROCONTROL. The next quarter will see further assessments, with four more already in the pipeline, as well as sessions at the CANSO Africa Conference 2017 and the CANSO Latin America and Caribbean Conference 2017.

In June, the Safety Standing Committee (SSC) issued two survey requests. The first, the 2017 Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)-IFR Losses of Separation (LOS) and Runway Incursions (RI) Call for Data, focused on lagging indicators of safety performance. The second, the ‌CANSO Standard of Excellence (SoE) in Safety Management Systems (SMS) Maturity Questionnaire, conducted in partnership with EUROCONTROL, is used by ANSPs to measure their SMS maturity levels and determine if they meet international standards for safety management. The outline results of both surveys will be presented at the CANSO Global ATM Safety Conference 2017 (6-10 November in Sydney, Australia).

In July, the co-chairs of the Human Performance Management Task Force met to continue developing guidance material for elements of the Standard of Excellence in Human Performance Management. The Standard is expected to be complete in 2019.

CANSO is now accepting nominations for the annual CANSO Global Safety Achievement Award. This award is given to a company or team that has made a significant safety contribution which has reduced aviation risk in the previous 12 months. This may be a local, regional or global contribution and may encompass a process, procedure, technology or training improvement. The deadline for 2017 nominations is 1 September 2017 and the award will be presented at the CANSO Global ATM Safety Conference 2017.

Quarter 2, 2017

CANSO continues to support the ICAO Safety Management Panel (SMP) Working Group, which is involved in developing guidance material and supporting examples, best practices and tools for the implementation of safety management systems (SMS).

In March, CANSO distributed the 2017 Top Contributing Factors for Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)-IFR Loss of Separation (LOS) and Runway Incursions (RI) Survey to Member ANSPs. This survey will collect data on contributing factors, corrective actions and success stories. The objective is to expand on existing information, particularly success stories, and to increase participation worldwide. Results will be shared with Member ANSPs at the CANSO Global ATM Safety Conference 2017 in Sydney (6-10 November).

In March, CANSO also distributed the CANSO Safety Performance Measurement Benchmarking Report 2015 to Members which submitted safety data last year. The report provides a high-level overview of ANSP performance in the areas of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)-IFR Losses of Separation (LOSs), Runway Incursions (RIs) and SMS Maturity. If you did not participate last year, please consider joining this year when the call for safety data goes out in May.

In April, the Safety Standing Committee held collaborative workgroup meetings at DFS headquarters in Langen, Germany. Members of the Future Safety Development Workgroup and the Safety Performance Management Workgroup held discussions on comparative analysis, data benchmarking and risk concepts and reviewed best practices gleaned from last year's SMS maturity survey results.

Also in April, a subset of the Human Performance Management Taskforce convened in Miami, USA, to develop guidance material for the CANSO Standard of Excellence in Human Performance Management (HPM). These materials include a series of case studies and examples of the work Member ANSPs have done to attain certain levels of maturity.

SEANS-Safety

SEANS-Safety Work has continued on the CANSO Standard of Excellence for Air Navigation Services – Safety (SEANS – Safety) programme to conclude Phase 1 of implementation. In early January, a well-attended assistant assessor seminar was held in Cairo, and two successful assessments have been undertaken for ATNS and IDAC in Johannesburg and Santo Domingo respectively, using assistant assessors from this group. As we move into Phase 2 of the programme implementation, the main focus is on expanding the number of assessments. Already three assessments are confirmed for the second quarter of this year, including VATM, SANS, EANS. In addition, a SEANS-Safety seminar will be held in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, in conjunction with the CANSO Asia Pacific Conference 2017, providing a pool of trained assistants to support assessments in the Asia Pacific region.

In addition, further work refining the CANSO Standard of Excellence survey will be undertaken in conjunction with workgroup meetings in April, and a number of assessments led by Kazeronavigatsia are confirmed for July.

During the Safety Conference, CANSO presented the CANSO Global Safety Achievement Award 2016 to the International Audit Cooperating Team (IntAct), in recognition of its proactive and international approach to reducing aviation risk internationally.

CANSO delivered assistant assessor training for the SEANS - Safety programme in San Jose, Costa Rica and Cairo, Egypt. This training prepares ANSP employees to participate in on-site SEANS-Safety assessments as an assistant to the lead assessor. In January, CANSO conducted a SEANS-Safety assessment at ATNS in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Human Performance Management Task Force is developing tools and guidance materials for elements of the CANSO Human Performance Management Standard of Excellence, to help ANSPs realise the immediate benefits of managing human performance. Plans are in place to conduct a Human Performance Management Workshop following the CANSO Africa Conference this year.